Daniel Bryan Is Being Advertised for RAW Tonight

What will Bryan do tonight? Photo Credit: WWE.com

The official website for the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, OH is advertising Daniel Bryan for tonight's episode of RAW. Whether or not this will be his official return to the ring after his latest injury is in question; he was in the news, however, for being named a judge to the newest iteration of Tough Enough. He could very well just be in the arena doing press for the reality show, although it would be some deft avoidance of the massive elephant in the room of his long term future in WWE and overall health. For what it's worth, however, he is also rumored to be booked for Payback on Sunday, which given the state of WWE pay-per-views recently, may not mean much of anything.

Bryan's future with the company may not be as tenuous as his career is. Even though WWE is rumored to be nearing the end of its rope paying for his surgeries (unionize now, wrestlers, DO IT), Bryan is still a name that the conglomerate can lean on for authority with a certain kind of fan, much in the same way it has attempted to lean on Ricky Steamboat in the past and even now. The future is more unwritten for him now than it ever has been, because who ever thought he'd come back from the serious neck problems in the first place? The cloud around his coming months and years is thicker than it is for any other wrestler.

But because I'm conditioned to expect the worst, I am girding my loins for him to announce his retirement either tonight or on Sunday. Honestly, the way the year has gone, it would be fitting. However, if Bryan should hang up the boots, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Yeah, the world would have lost a superior performer in the ring and a darn good one overall, but the sadness of losing his presence on the roster should be outweighed by the fact that he's getting out in order to live as healthy a life as he can.

And of course, all the pessimism could just be for naught. Again, the shroud of uncertainty around Bryan right now is thick. It'll still be good to see him tonight, even if he's just shilling for the latest round of Tough Enough.

Of course, Stephanie McMahon is also returning tonight, Charlotte is backstage and could get herself a nice debut spot, and in the most bizarre teaser, Jimmy Wang Yang said on his Facebook that he's coming back tonight. If anything, tonight's RAW should be... interesting to say the least.